Method of dimensioning a transport network for a radio access network of a mobile radio network

• US 20040132453A1
• Filed: 12/22/2003
• Published: 07/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wi-LAN Inc.
• Original Assignee: Evolium SAS (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Pepin, Christophe, Le-Beyec, Frederic, Gabriel, Anne
• Granted Patent: US 8,355,732 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/446
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/22 Traffic simulation tools or models
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of dimensioning a transport network for a radio access network of a mobile radio network, said method including dynamic adaptation of the transport configuration as a function of transport traffic capacity requirements.

Claims

1. A method of dimensioning transport networks for radio access networks of mobile radio networks, said method comprising dynamic adaptation of the transport configuration as a function of transport traffic capacity requirements.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein, to determine the transport traffic capacity requirements, account is taken of one or more criteria from a set of criteria including:

the radio traffic capacity requirements of users,

the capacity of the network to handle the radio traffic, and

the transport quality of service.

3. A method according to either claim 1 or claim 2, wherein, to determine the transport traffic capacity requirements on a logical link of said transport network, account is taken of one or more criteria from a set of criteria including:

the radio traffic capacity requirements of users, in the case of cells attached to said logical link,

the capacity of the network to handle the radio traffic, in the case of cells attached to said logical link, and

the quality of service on said logical link.

4. A method according to any one of claims 2 to 3, wherein, to determine the radio traffic capacity requirements of users, account is taken:

during initial dimensioning, of the radio traffic forecasts, and

subsequently, after commissioning, of radio traffic observations.

5. A method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein, to determine the capacity of the network to handle the radio traffic, account is taken of:

during initial dimensioning, cellular radio dimension forecasts and forecasts of the capacity of the network nodes to process the radio traffic, and

subsequently, after commissioning, changes in the cellular radio dimensions and/or changes in the capacity of the network nodes to process the radio traffic.

6. A method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein, to determine the transport traffic capacity requirements, account is taken during initial dimensioning of the radio traffic capacity requirements of users and of the capacity of the network to handle the radio traffic.

7. A method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein, to determine the transport traffic capacity requirements, account is taken after commissioning of the radio traffic capacity requirements of users and/or the capacity of the network to handle the radio traffic and/or the transport quality of service.

8. A method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the radio traffic capacity requirements of users in a cell are expressed by means of a traffic model or descriptor.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein a traffic descriptor is defined by one or more parameters including, for each of the uplink and downlink directions:

the number of users active simultaneously in said cell,

the type of service (circuit or packet) required by said users, and

the bit rate for the services required by said users.

10. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the transport traffic capacity requirements on a logical link are expressed by means of a traffic model or profile.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein a transport traffic profile on a logical link is defined by one or more parameters including:

the minimum bandwidth necessary for dimensioning the user plane for the communications protocols on said logical link, and

the maximum number of users necessary for dimensioning the control plane for the communications protocols on said logical link.

12. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the dimensioning of a transport network logical link is defined by a transport configuration model or template.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein a transport configuration template for a transport network logical link is defined by one or more parameters including:

the bandwidth necessary for said logical link, and,

the assignment of said bandwidth to different traffic liable to be transmitted on said logical link, including user data traffic, signaling traffic relating to the radio network layer, and signaling traffic relating to the transport network layer, in accordance with the communications protocols on said logical link.

14. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the transport traffic capacity requirements on a logical link of the transport network are deduced from the transport traffic capacity requirements on one or more other logical links of the transport network.

15. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, including the following steps:

a first step of expressing the requirements of users in terms of radio traffic capacity in a cell, by means of a traffic descriptor for that cell,

a second step of expressing traffic capacity requirements on a logical link of the transport network by means of a traffic profile, based on traffic descriptors for all of the cells attached to said logical link, and

a third step of choosing a transport configuration template for a logical link of the transport network, based on the traffic profile for said logical link.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the second and third steps apply a formula of the type:

T=f(Σ

c_i)

in which;

T is the transport configuration template chosen for said logical link,

Σ

c_i represents the sum of the traffic descriptors c_i for all the cells attached to said logical link, and

f represents a function for deducing the transport configuration model T from traffic descriptors c_i of all cells attached to said logical link.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the second and third steps take account of the aggregate traffic of all the cells attached to said logical link, instead of the sum of the individual traffics of the all the cells.

18. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, including a step for choosing a transport configuration template as a function of one or more criteria from a set of criteria including:

the radio traffic capacity requirements of users,

the capacity of the network to handle the radio traffic, and

the transport quality of service.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein said transport configuration template is chosen from a set of predetermined transport configuration templates or reference templates.

20. A method according to claim 19, further including dynamic adaptation of the reference templates as a function of the transport traffic capacity requirements.

21. A mobile radio network operation and maintenance center including means for implementing a method according to any one of claims 1 to 20.